Walk in the woods
by CharlotteHolmes
Summary: Bella takes a walk in the woods the day before the wedding, the Volturi are in Forks to see if she is still human and decide that they will change her themselves. They wipe her memory of her human life and eventually send her to kill Edward.
1. Walk in the woods

**Summary: Bella takes a walk in the woods before the wedding and comes across the Volturi who who wipe her memory and turn her into vampire.**

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**Bella's POV**

I was very nervous about the wedding which was tomorrow. I kept telling myself that all I had to do was wear a long white dress, walk down an aisle, say I do and then I could have my honeymoon with Edward. I had left the arranging where the honeymoon to Alice and Edward. After the honeymoon Edward would turn me into a vampire and we could be together forever. That was what I kept telling myself and it wasn't calming me down. I had tried all sorts of things to calm me down. Yoga, tea and a hot water bottle. Even listening to Clair de Lune and reading Wuthering Heights wasn't doing anything to help my nerves, I needed some fresh air. A nice walk would help.

I put on my coat and gloves to go outside. Edward was currently with Alice trying on his suit for the wedding. I missed him a lot. I decided once I was outside that I would go for a walk in the woods next to my house. It was raining of course. I couldn't be bothered to go back in and get a umbrella since it would be useless in the woods. Edward had warned me not to go in the woods, but that was before I knew he was a vampire, I wasn't worried about going into the woods anymore. I wished that the woods here had more wildlife there was usually a few birds, but today I couldn't see any birds or bugs. I had been in the woods for about ten minutes and was getting the feeling that there was someone else with me. I had stopped worrying about the wedding and was more concerned about my safety. It couldn't be any of the Cullens; they were all at their house preparing for the wedding. The werewolves weren't a possibility either because Jacob was the only one that ever came into Forks to protect me and he was missing at the moment. It could also be a figment of my imagination.

I turned to go back home and felt someone move behind me, then someone tapped my shoulder. I whirled round to find myself facing the Volturi. All of them. I recognised most of them from my visit to Italy. Jane was smiling at me angelically along with her brother Alec. They looked exactly the same as lat time I saw them; dark cloaks, milky eyes and strange skin. What on earth were they doing here? I was going to become a vampire in a matter of weeks so they couldn't have come to kill me.

"Bella, how charming to see you. We were about to visit the Cullens, but we thought we might drop by to see you first. I see you are still human," Aro observed with a slight smirk. "Has Edward backed out of our little deal?"

"No we are getting married in a couple of days, then he will turn me into a vafmpire."

"Interesting. We all agree that you have had enough time to become a vampire so I'm afraid you don't have many options... It would be wonderful if you became a member of the Volturi. Would you like to?" Aro inquired politely.

"I'm sorry, but I would never want to join you as you kill humans rather than animals."

"We thought you might say that so we have planned ahead. Edward's time has expired; he hasn't turned you into a vampire so we are going to have to do it ourselves," Aro said calmly. "We recently gained a very useful member that can block your friend Alice from seeing people's futures and can wipe that memory of anyone even if they have a mental shield like you. So to make sure you don't run back to the Cullens we will wipe yours."

I couldn't let them do this to me, I had to get away, but it would be pretty much impossible considering how sharp vampire senses were. I turned and tried to run out of the woods as fast as I could. Of course it didn't work; Felix and Demetri were faster. There was nothing I could do, but hope that Edward would finish with Alice, come to my house, notice and I was gone and track me down. It was a futile hope. I was now pinned to the muddy ground by Felix who was grinning. My mouth was also full of mud. I spat it out. Aro ignored me and spoke to Felix.

"You may do the honours."

I was immediately glad that I had spat out the mud as I would be choking right now because I was screaming repeatedly. The pain was excruciating, I wanted it to stop. The Volturi paid no attention to my screams or to my attempts to get up and run away. Aro signalled to a member of the Volturi behind him and gave them a nod. The vampire had brown long hair and looked like she hadn't been in the Volturi for very long, I didn't recognise her. She must be the vampire that could erase people's memories. I tried to move away from her a she approached, but fell into a puddle. She carried on calmly walking towards me and kneeled next to me. Then she laid her hands on either side of my face and made me forget everything.

I didn't know what I was doing here of why I felt like I was on fire. I didn't know my name and I had no idea who the strange, pale people standing near me were. They were all watching me like I was a small baby walking its first steps. I hated that. When was the pain going to end?

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**I have been thinking about doing this fanfiction for a while. I like taking cliché fanfiction and twisting them like in my fanfiction Bella the Vampire Slayer.**


	2. Living with the Volturi

**Bella's POV**

Six months later

They told me my name was Isabelle Maria Webber and I was a vampire. That was after I spent three days feeling like I was on fire. I hadn't believed them at first. There seemed to be many inconsistencies in the story that they told me about how I became one of them. Apparently they had been visiting a small town in America and had been hunting in the forest and had come across me lying unconscious. They said that they had no idea why I was there, but it was decided that I was too good to waste. So the one called Felix bit me. It didn't sound very likely to me, but since I had no memories of my human life which was supposed to be normal according to them and I didn't know any vampires outside the Volturi I pretended that I believed them.

We were now in Italy. I had learnt some their names. Aro, Caius and Marco were basically the bosses of the Volturi. Felix, Demetri, Jane and Alec were used in fights whilst Heidi lured in our victims. There were these four female vampires that Aro must have asked to try and make friends with me; I wasn't very fond of them. The one with dyed blonde hair called Natasha was too slutty. I ignored her most of the time. I didn't get on well with Karey or Eloise because they were too vain and boring. The other vampire Yuki had long light brown hair and loved reading. We got on very well and she got me into reading the classics like Jane Austen and Emily Brontë. I couldn't help but feel like I had read some of those books before, especially Wuthering Heights.

Aro had found that he couldn't read my mind and Jane couldn't harm me and deduced that I had some sort of mental shield protecting my mind. He was helping my stretch it out so I could protect everyone in a fight. That had me worried, I hated fighting. I didn't like killing humans for their blood either, but I did it because I needed to. I was fairly happy living with the Volturi, but couldn't help feeling that I was missing something.

After a while I became more trusted in the Volturi and would come with them when they punished vampires for breaking their laws. All I had to do was use my shield to protect them; they were fine with me not taking a part in any of the fighting. Aro kept trying to find me a mate, but was unable to find one. I didn't mind being by myself. I did enjoy taking photos of them because I thought that vampires were unable to appear in photographs. I stopped killing the humans that we used as food and relied on a blood bank to send me blood.

A week later I was sent on a holiday with the Yuki and Felix. It was clearly planned in a hurry and it seemed that Aro wanted me away from the Volturi for a while. They wouldn't tell me anything apart from they had Aro had received a letter that morning and had instantly sent for them. I had a feeling that the Volturi knew more about my past than they let on.

**Edward's POV**

I had been looking for her for over six months and was still unable to track her down. I had contacted all the vampires we knew and asked them if they knew anything. I was going to see the Volturi tomorrow and had sent a letter telling them in advance. We had been able to retrace her steps that she had taken that morning as far as the woods and then nothing. She had been silly to go into the woods unprotected. I couldn't protect her all the time, at the time I had been forced by Alice to try on my suit for the wedding. If only she hadn't then persuaded me to tear down the tree that was ruining her plan for the decorations I would have been able to go to Bella's house and Bella wouldn't have unwisely chosen to go for a walk in the woods. I really blamed myself for it.

My family were really worried about her and I was losing hope in finding her. Anything could have happened to her. We found that one of her earrings that had fallen off, she must of being fighting or trying to run away from someone. There were no other scents in the woods so we couldn't track her killer or abductor. The next day I arrived at the Volturi see if they knew anything. Aro seemed to be acting gracious as normal, but he appeared to be a little nervous

"Edward, how nice of you to come by; I don't think you came just to say hello. What do you want to know?"

"Bella has disappeared without a trace. Would you happen to know anything?" I asked politely.

"Why would I know anything Edward? It could be her own doing or she could have been kidnapped by a human. She does tend to attract the wrong kind of attention."

I agreed with him on that point.

"Her scent ended in the woods and there was nothing else to follow so it couldn't have been a human and she wouldn't run away since our wedding was to be in a couple of days. I have heard of vampires that can hide their scents and other people's too."

"Are accusing me of something? Feel free to interview every vampire here or search the place if you like; you won't find anything."

I took up his offer. I talked to all the vampires and the humans that worked for them. None of them could tell me anything. I wasn't going to give up that easily. I turned my attention to searching everyone's rooms.

I didn't know how vain some of the female vampires were until I poked around their bedrooms that they didn't use to sleep in. Most of their rooms had lots of mirrors and make up. Why would a vampire need to wear make up? The male vampire's rooms weren't very interesting. There was one room that looked like what Bella's room would look like if she was a vampire. It was full of Jane Austen books, Shakespeare, classic books like Mansfield Park and had a copy of Wuthering heights which was Bella's favourite book. The only problem was the room looked like the vampire loved that Volturi as there was a lot of photos of other members of the Volturi and that they hunted humans judging by the bottle of blood among the make up on the dressing table. It didn't make sense maybe the Volturi didn't kidnap her after all. I was beginning to give up on trying to find her. I had no leads after all. I should just ask the Volturi to kill me.

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**Sorry for not updating sooner I have been revising for my GCSE like mad. **


	3. Planning Edward Cullen's death

**Bella's POV**

When we returned from our holiday there was this strange scent that I hadn't smelt before and Aro was in a strange mood. Then when I went into my room I found that some of my books had been touched and he strange scent was there. I really needed some answers. First I get hurriedly sent away after Aro receives a letter, then someone that isn't in the Volturi has had a nose around my room and touched my stuff. I was definitely going to talk to Aro about letting me on some of the secrets on what goes on around here.

I was on my way to Aro's study to ask him what was going on when Karey gave me a message telling me that Aro wanted to talk to me along with Yuki, Alec and Felix. Maybe I was going to get clued in on what was going on. I entered the study that everyone was already there along with Caius and Marcus, Aro was pacing the room. He stopped as I walked in. I went and stood next to Yuki.

"It has come to our attention after we had a visitor a few days ago that vampire relationships with humans should be banned. In a lot of cases the human ends up dead, but a ̕lucky΄ few suriv, fall inlove and find out about everything. We think it needs to be stopped as it is becoming more of a problem," Aro said looking towards me for some reason. "We had a visit from a vampire that fell in love with a human girl who worked out his secret and found out about us and he didn't kill her because he was so in love with her. He also tried to kill himself when he thought she has died and refused to change her into a vampire even after I personally made him promise."

"What happened to the girl?" I asked intrigued.

Aro looked slightly surprised by the question and seemed to be unable to answer.

"Isabelle she-"

"She died," Caius cut him off. "She had no right to be a vampire and she paid the price for it."

I didn't like to ask any more questions after that answer.

"Anyway we need to stop these relationships somehow. There are too many vampires having them to stop all of them so we will have to stop future ones. We can't have masses of humans finding out about vampires."

So far it all made sense. If humans found out that vampires really existed and couldn't be staked, didn't mind the sun, sleep in coffins, have fangs or were sensitive to silver there would be a mass panic. We were almost indestructible and could only be destroyed one way that wasn't known to humans that knew the vampire stereotype.

"We are going to punish the vampire that visited us a few days ago as he is well known for being in love with a human. So we are going to execute him as an example of what will happen to other vampires that try it."

I couldn't see a vampire falling in love with a human for some reason. The only contact I ever have with humans is when I kill them and all they did was scream. I couldn't see the appeal.

"Our target is living in Forks with his family who unfortunately will have to be killed as well to make the punishment seem more extreme to scare vampires. The family feed of animal instead of humans and are very trusting which should make our job easier."

Caius took over the explaining. Since they lived among humans it would be harder to kill them without covering up their deaths as well. Planning people's death was Caius' area.

"Edward will be the main target and killing the rest is secondary, but preferred. Don't take unnecessary risks. Just make sure you kill him. Edward has met Felix and Alec before and will suspect something. It would be quite fair to arrange his death without giving him some inkling of what is coming for him. We will also be sending Yuki and Isabelle. You will pose as students. Alec will be Felix's younger brother who lives with him because they have no parents. After the targets are killed we will cover it up," Caius informed us. "You will all be leaving tomorrow and you will be given all the details before you leave. Isabelle will need to use her mental shield to block out all your thoughts as the main target is a mind reader and will try to manipulate all of you. Be prepared for everything."

The next day we left for Forks. I had been given pictures of some of the family members. I knew all their names; the main target was called Edward Cullen. The name seemed to mean something to me, I couldn't place it though. The picture of the leader Carlisle was taken from an old painting whilst the ones of Edward and Alice who could see the future were recent sketches from last year when they visited the Volturi with the human girl who was now dead. I could sense that there was something behind this; Caius seemed to be very happy with me going to kill Edward Cullen and I knew he didn't like me very much. He was only happy when he was tormenting me.


	4. Meeting the Cullens

**Bella's POV**

The weather in Forks is exactly like everyone said that it would be; rain. We had only been here for three days and so far it had rained every day. We hadn't yet made any contact with the Cullens. The plan was for us to establish ourselves in the town first as it would be suspicious if after the Cullens disappeared we left. The plan was for us to be friendly to the locals then visit the Cullens. Aro had said that the physic one called Alice would be able to see us coming and that the Cullens were too noble to run away. I on the other hand thought it was more to do with fear.

Yesterday we met the Chief of Police Charlie Swan. It turned out he was the father of Edward Cullen's human girlfriend. He had seemed very sad and lonely when we met him. He didn't really pay much attention to our conversation or to what we looked like. I felt sorry for him and was about to ask him about his daughter when Felix abruptly ended the conversation and pulled me away. There was definitely something going on behind my back and I planned on finding out what it was. Felix had insisted on me wearing a baseball cap whenever we went into town. I had no idea why. Everyone we had met had told Felix that he had a very adorable little brother. I could tell that Alec wasn't enjoying all the compliments by all the glares he was sending.

It was decided that we would visit the Cullens this afternoon. I was looking forward to seeing some vampires that were vegetarian, while the others seemed to be worried about something and were having conversations behind my back. Felix told me to wear the baseball cap when we visited them.

**Edward's POV**

We were going to have a visit from the Volturi this afternoon; Alice had seen it coming. We also knew that they had already been in Forks for three days making friends with the locals. Sometimes all the gossip about new arrivals was useful to an extent. I knew that Alec and Felix were posing as brothers while the two female vampires that I had never seen before were just friends. One of them always seemed to be wearing a baseball cap whenever Alice had visions of her. We had found out their names, Isabella and Yuki.

We did know why they were here. I didn't mind dying as I was pretty sure that Bella was dead, but the rest of my family were determined to not let me die. I had told them that if they fought that they would die as well. They had just ignored me when I said that. I couldn't let them die for something that was my fault. After all I was the one that had fallen in love with Bella after wanting to kill her.

The vampires from the Volturi arrived at around three. Carlisle let them in and introduced them to everyone. The vampire called Isabelle was still wearing a baseball cap.

"Felix, this is my wife Esme, that's Emmett and Rosalie, you have met Alice and Edward. And that is Jasper," Carlisle said pointing to everyone in turn. "Please have a seat."

The vampires nodded at as but remained standing.

"You probably know why we are here. Vampire-human relationships are now against the law. To make sure the law is enforced we have decided to punish Edward Cullen because he is very well known for being in love with a human that discovered his secret," Felix said explaining exactly why they were here. "We can't have humans revealing the existence of vampires."

I agreed with the new law and I was ready to die. Alice glared at me predicting what I would say. I stood up and spoke anyway.

"I am willing to die to keep our existence secret. When you kill me could you please do it outside, I don't want my family to see it."

All the vampires except the one wearing a baseball cap smirked and exchanged looks. I then realised that I couldn't read their minds. I hadn't noticed it before; I had been too preoccupied with planning my own demise. Why couldn't I read their minds?

"Aro thought you might say that. You are only so willing to die because you lost you only love, am I right?"

"That is right," I answered. "I can't live without her."

"Well Edward, you have agreed to die. Are you completely sure and promise that you won't go back on your word?"

I nodded. Felix smiled evilly and grabbed the baseball cap from Isabelle's head and threw it across the room. We could all see what she looked like. It was undoubtedly Bella. Felix had tricked me. Bella was still alive and I was going to die. Why did I have to be so willing to die without properly checking whether Bella was dead? This was the second time and either way there was never going to be a third. And why was Bella with the Volturi anyway?

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** I meant to uplaod this sooner, but it wouldn't let me submit the document and when I managed to it logged me out and I lost what I had written. I hate it when it does that.**


	5. Betrayl

Walk in the woods: Chapter 5

**Bella's POV**

Edward Cullen was staring at me in shock; I had no idea why he would be. He didn't know me and I didn't know him. Moments before Felix had taken off my baseball cap, I had presumed that was for effect, but now I wasn't so sure. Maybe it was due to Edward Cullen storming over to me with his hair in disarray and a crazed look in his eyes. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked directly into my eyes. I stared blankly back wondering when someone would explain to me exactly what was going on. I was always being kept in the dark these days; actually it was from the very beginning.

"Bella…" he sighed. "Why are you with them? You hate the Volturi."

Of all the things I expected this Edward Cullen to say, he goes and says something weird. "Er, you must be mixed-up. I'm Isabelle not Bella."

He sighed again and took his hands of my shoulders much to my relief, he creeped me out even though I liked him for some unknown reason. He was quite good looking and a vegetarian like me. I told myself to stop these thoughts and was thankful that no one could read my mind due to my mental shield. Edward Cullen took a deep breath and turned to Felix.

"How can you do this? You should be the one to die not me," he shouted and punched through the widescreen television that was near to him. It shattered instantly. "Bell- I mean Isabelle you're staying with us and I am not going to be killed. Do you hear me?"

I didn't know what to do or who to believe. I had trusted the Volturi even though I knew they were lying sometimes and killed many people. Everything was slowly coming together now. I could see through the smokescreen that the Volturi had created to destroy Edward. I was the human that Edward Cullen ad loved and I was now in the hands of the Volturi and powerless. All the time I had been with them they had controlled me, told me what to do and who to kill. I should have left them a long time ago, but I didn't. I had nowhere else to go and I didn't know if I could survive by myself.

"Isabelle is with us Cullen," Felix spat harshly. "She has nowhere else to go, she trusts us."

"Not anymore," I screamed and slapped Felix around the face. The impact sounded like stone hitting stone and did nothing but make him angrier,

He glared at me and tried to grab me. "Isabelle, we are going to follow order. Kill Cullen and get out of here. Do as I say, and I won't tell Aro about you trying to rebel."

"I am leaving, I don't want to be pushed around by everyone anymore," I said moving away from him, Yuki and Alec to be nearer to the Cullens.

Alice Cullen jumped up happily and suddenly threw her arms around me. She realy did look like a pixie with her spiky hair. Vampires weren't normally this emotional, if I was really Bella I must have known her very well.

"Its so good to see you Bella. We were all greatly worried about you."

I shrugged her arms off. "One thing at a time…Alice."

"Sorry"

Our light banter was interrupted by Yuki.

"How about we make you all a nice deal?" she proposed smiling not very nicely and showing her sharp teeth. This did not sound good at all. If anything the deal would be advantegous to the Volturi rather than me and the Cullens.

"If you let us kill Edward, I'll return Bella's memory. After all I am the one that wiped it in the first place."

So Yuki was in on everything as well. We were supposed to be best friends. Then I remembered that Aro had introduced me to her and she was part of the lying Volturi which shows that I never should I have expected anything better from her. What's more was that she was the one one that took away my memory. I would never trust anyone so easily again.

"That's not going to happen. Ever." The blonde one that I knew was called Jasper cut in. "How about we take this outside?"

Felix raised one eyebrow and sized Jasper up as an opponent for a fight. "Okay then. Tell you what, if I beat you I get to keep Bella or should I say Isabella and still get to kill Edward as well?"

I couldn't let this happen. People that I couldn't remember at all but knew they must have been a big part of my life we willing to risk getting killed to let me sat with them. I was touched and whished more than ever that I could remember them. I should be the one to fight Felix.

"Keep your offer. I'll fight you, I said stopping everyone in their tracks. Everyone froze and it was silent.

Felix considered it and smiled. "Certainly Isabelle, come on."

He walked out the door and beckoned for me to follow him. There would be no turning back from this. I paused in the doorway and took what could be my last look at a genuinely kind group of vampires that were willing to die for me. I might not ever see anyone else again. I spun around a walked out the door with no regrets.

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**I left this fanfiction as it wasn't really going anywhere and I had a lot of things to concentrate on. I planned to come back to it in a few months. That was nearly a year ago and I feel very guilty. Due to a new reviewer I feel inspired to carry it on again and I dug out the draft of the next chapter that I had written and never uploaded. Rereading this story has made me feel very embaressed about my writing and I aim to improve it as much as I can. Thank you**


	6. Plots and Plans

Walk in the woods: Chapter 6

**Edward's POV**

As soon as Bella walked out the door all the terrible feelings that had haunted me when I thought she had died came back. For the very few minutes that I had stood in a room with her, known she was there and talked to her-well ordered her, had been one of the happiest moments of my existence. Even though I hadn't shown it on the outside, I had felt whole, warm and happy on the inside. Now that happy moment had gone. I felt the cold anguish return. She had left me and was going to die for me; I could do nothing to stop or to help her due to being frozen on the spot by Alec's ability.

Alec had frozen my sense; I couldn't twitch a muscle or even blink. However I could still hear people's thoughts. Alice was sending me wild, haywire predictions of the future that kept changing every second. None of them looked good for us or Bella. Esme was happy that Bella was alive after all, but in shock over the events that had just happened as was Carlisle. Emmett and Jasper were thinking how they would fight the Volturi after they were able to move. The mysterious shield that had stopped me from reading the Volturi's thoughts was no longer in place and I could hear everything that was going through Alec and Yuki's minds. Alec was concentrating on keeping me, Emmett and Jasper frozen as we were the most dangerous and prone to fighting, he was keeping an eye on Rosalie and Alice too. Yuki was thinking about how easily Felix was going to beat Bella and was thinking about when she has wiped her memory under Aro's orders. Unfortunately just as she was giving away the plan that they had been carrying out which led to my demise as well as the rest of my family's she switched languages in my head and began thinking in Japanese that was too fast to follow and I suspected that is was the words to a song as there were some English mixed in there as well which is commonly found in Japanese music. I knew that because Alice had forced us to listen to some much to my distaste.

Alice looked at me meanfully after broadcasting a particularly horrible death that had been planned for us. In her mind she was telling me a plan that she was going to use to save us and Bella; it wasn't a good or faultless plan and I wouldn't use ut unless I had no other choice, but it was the best one right now and we were running out of time fast. Bella could be dead or dying right now.

After counting to three in her head Alice sprang like a cat on Alec and knocked him to the floor. As soon as she had immobilised him I could move again. Using my muscles that I was now in control of again, I pinned Yuki to the ground, not a second too late as she had been about to take on Alice. Emmett joined me in trying to keep a wriggling and spitting Yuji pinned to the hardwood floor which was quite a struggle while Jasper and Carlisle helped Alice stop Alec from using his ability by pulling off his arm to keep him distracted. We wouldn't be killing them just yet…

I left Yuki in the capable and more than willing hands of Emmett and Jasper while I threw open the front door and sprinted outside. I expected to see Bella and Felix fighting. I was wrong. There was nobody out here. The only signs of life were a few birds flying overhead and the wind rustling through the leaves on the trees. Where had Bella and Felix gone? They had only been left alone for a maximum of three minutes; they couldn't have gone far. Then again vampires were fast, very fast.

Instead of giving up and throwing myself to the ground like I wanted to, I sniffed out the trail that they had left and followed it. It looped halfway down the driveway and then led into the woods. How strange, I paused and followed it deeper into the trees. They had definitely passed through here; the broken tree branches and lack of wildlife were clear clues of that. Now I was starting to feel slightly more hopeful, optimistic even about my chances of finding Bella when the trial stopped dead at the river than runs through the woods. It just stopped. It took me a while to process that and then the answer came to me. From here they must have travelled up the river to hide their scent. Or they could have gone down the river. Either one was possible.

I stared at the clear, shallow water as I thought about what to do. Every second I wasted here trying to make a decision, the further away Bella was. There was no time to run back to the house and get someone to help. I made a hasty split-second decision and followed my instinct to the left, down the river.

I was half a mile down the river and I hadn't seen any signs that they had passed this way, in fact there were animals running away from my presence meaning that they had not just seen two vampires streak down the river and the water was calm and flowing. I felt my hope that had been rising steadily die and picked up a jagged rock and threw it as hard as I could into the river. The crash was loud and resounding, but I didn't care. I had lost her yet again. She had slipped from my grasp. It would be pointless to go back up the river. They had had too much of a head start for me to catch up with them. All I could do now was go back to my family and report my failure of trying to save Bella. That was a very disheartening thought.

I trudged back up the river and up to drive towards the house delaying the moment where I would see their disappointed faces as much as I could. Esme was waiting for me on the doorstep. She saw the look on my face and gave me a comforting pat on the shoulder and led me inside. Rosalie was standing by the door checking her crimson red nail varnish; she was bothered about that in a time like this. Sometimes my family made me want to laugh, but I hadn't laughed in a long time.

"Did you find her?" was Rosalie first question.

I shook my head and walked out into the kitchen to join the others. They were all sitting around the table calmly. Emmett was holding Alec's arm in case he tried to use his ability and Yuki with very rumpled brown hair was sitting next to Alice who was keeping a careful eye on her. I sat down next to Carlisle.

"They went up the river and I lost them," I said and let my head slump.

Carlisle nodded. "I didn't think you would be able to catch up with them. The Volturi are very good at evading people. They have had years of practise. Don't blame yourself."

The look I gave him explained my feeling without me having to say it out loud. Carlisle patted me understandingly.

Emmet waved Alec's arm in the air. "Edward, stop being such a pessimist. We have a plan, so don't give up now."

"Oh yes and the last plan was perfect, was it?" I retorted sarcastically.

Alice glared at me across the table and stood up with a murderous expression on her face. That did not bode well for me; I knew that look.

"Listen to me Edward. We have a chance of getting her back. Two of their best members are currently in our possession and we could use them to negotiate Bella's return. Come on, we can't do this alone. We need you. Please?" She started using the puppy dog look that made everyone give into her insane requests.

I gave in; I knew it was no use arguing against Alice. One of the things that were troubling me was the fact that Felix had been able to induce Bella to run off with him. How had he been able to do that? He could have played on her innocence and her lack of knowledge about the true side of the Volturi.

"All right Alice. What is the plan? It had better be a lot better than the last one you came up with."

Alice waved away my comment. "Tomorrow morning Felix and Bella will be at the airport on their way somwhere that I can't predict. All we need to do is intercept them at the airport and do a trade. Yuki and Alec for Bella unharmed. We will also return Alec's arm."

"That will never work," Yuki said calmly from her seat at the table.

I agreed with her. Felix might not want Alec and Yuki. He left them behind after all.

"Yuki is right," I said to Alice who made a face at me. Yuki acknowledged me with a nod.

"Well what do you suggest then Edward?"

"I don't have any suggestions, but we can do better than that."

"Oh that's very helpful."

Carlisle wisely interrupted before the argument could turn into anything worse. "Why don't we ask Yuki for ideas?"

We all turned to her surprised. She raised her eyebrows and took a deep breath. I was skeptical of any plan she came up with. She may not be fighting us at the moment, but she couldn't exactly be trusted. I wouldn't be too keen on using any plan she came up with for good reason. Her thoughts were in Japanese again and were too quick for me to follow.

"When I took away Bella's memory it meant that she had the mentality of a young child. She progressed very quickly, but she is still easy to manipulate and is very docile. It would have been easy for Felix to persaude her to run off with him."

She was right and truthful so far. "What exactly did she do in the Volturi?"

"Her position was mainly to shield us mentally in a fight, we expected nothing else from her. She was never expected to be a fighter and it would have been surprising if she was."

That explained a few things that I had seen in her room when I searched the Volturi and why I hadn't been able to hear her thoughts.

"Why are you telling us this?"

"I happen to know that this entire plot was destroy the Cullen family who they think are becoming rivals to the Volturi and are a big problem. Kidnapping Bella was just Phase 1 of it. Aro does want to keep her though. Felix wanted to be her mate, but she didn't want to and turned him down. I think that manipulating an innocent girl is the wrong thing to do and I have been thinking about leaving the Voturi for quite a long time so I will help you as long as I can go free."

"We'll see," was my reply. I still didn't trust her. I knew from my last meeting with Aro that he was jealous of us and our abilities so so far she was being truthful. Felix liked Bella? That was the part I wasn't so sure about.

"So what's the plan Yuki. It's got to be better than Alice's to have a chance of working."


	7. Blood

Walk in the woods: Chapter 7

**Bella's POV**

Maybe Felix wasn't that bad after all. That was the thought that was repeatedly going through my head as she passed me a blood pack and a bendy, plastic straw. He must have stolen it from a blood bank nearby. He had only left me alone for about ten minutes so it must have been close by. I looked at the label and read that it was Type O: my favourite type. I hadn't had a snack for several days so I was starving; my pupils were ragged and dark with thirst. I was having a hard time keeping my mind off my thirst and killing all the people milling around the trees in the park we were in. We were sitting together on an iron bench in a secluded corner, shielded by trees in a secluded corner of a park in some city that I didn't know the name of.

"You have to keep your strength up, my dear Isabella," Felix said producing his own blood pack and sucking through a straw with gusto. "Besides there will be a lot of humans where we are going and we wouldn't want to lost control, would we?" He licked his lips and his eyes followed a woman in a tracksuit jogging past the bench.

"I didn't know that you liked the bottled stuff," I pointed to the blood pack. "In Italy you loved all those tourists and their white necks. You used to regale everyone with stories about how you fed on humans in large cities and enticed maidens in tiny, remote villages."

"Well yes, I did," he admitted. "But I don't like killing innocent people anymore. You really opened my eyes to that. Thank you."

He brushed my fringe out my eyes and frowned when the wind blew it back into place again. Hair had never really bothered me; if it was in my eyes it stayed there. I pondered about what he had said and wondered if I had really changed him and if it was for the better. He had told me that he was in love with me and had always been.

_**Flashback**_

**I faced Felix and bent into a crouch, ready to spring at any second. His face was devoid of any emotion; a perfect poker face. He was standing perfectly still, just staring at me. I thought that this was a trick. Felix was waiting for me to lower my guard and then he would attack. Well that wasn't going to happen. I was very nervous and paranoid. Being the mental shield of the Volturi meant that you see a lot of fights, but you don't actually do much fighting yourself. Felix on the other hand was a trained fighter and lethal, I had seen him in action too many times.**

**Finally he spoke. "Isabella, I don't want to fight you," he said, his voice just above a whisper.**

**That was strange and very unlike him. Felix had always wanted to fight and that was one of the reasons that I wasn't particularly fond of him. When Aro suggested that Felix become my mate I instantly refused out of dislike and his eating habits.**

"**Why not, you always do?"**

"**Because my dear, you have helped me realise how the wrong the Volturi are. The events of the past few days have opened my eyes to their true nature. They wiped your memory and used you. That is despicable. We should run away from all of it. Together."**

**Get away from it all? That sounded wonderful and rather impossible. The Volturi had allies everywhere and I wasn't really accustomed to travelling outside Europe. "That would be like a dream come true," I hesitated. "But what about the Cullens? Aro will just get someone else to kill them." **

**My question finally sparked a familiar emotion from him: anger. "Hang the Cullens! I don't care about them."His face softened. "I only care about you."**

**The idea of Felix caring about we was new and something I wasn't accustomed to. Would I become his mate? The idea was still slightly repulsive to me. **

"**Where would we go?" I questioned.**

"**Anywhere but here and Italy."**

**Felix held his hand to me. "Come on Isabella. Let's leave here now. Immediately."**

**I reached out and took his proffered hand and straightened up from my fighting stance. The Cullens could wait until later. All that mattered now to me was Felix.**

_**End of flashback**_

Felix stood up abruptly from the bench and accurately threw his empty blood pack into the nearby bin. He pulled me up and grabbed hold of my hand. Holding hands with someone was still a new idea to me that took some time to get used to and I still wasn't comfortable with it.

"Now that we are happy and fed we should go for a walk and enjoy the scenery before we leave this country."

I finished the last of my blood bag, threw mine neatly into the same bin and allowed him to lead me off. The sky was grey with clouds so we didn't have to worry about putting our hoods up so we wouldn't sparkle in the sun which was a pleasant change. Having my hand in Felix's felt special so I didn't let go.

"Felix?" I queried. A thought had just occurred to me.

He looked down at me. "Isabella."

"Where are we going to go to keep away from other vampires? I don't want to see another vampire ever again."

Felix tapped his nose with a slim forefinger and winked at me. "I have thought about a way to deal with that. We will be leaving here in the evening. I need to make some arrangements first so I will have to leave you somewhere for a while."

"Why can't I come with you?"

Felix patted me on the head in a way that was fond rather than condescending. "You are not accustomed to dealing with humans on business matters yet. It can be very frustrating so I prefer to do it by myself. I'll drop you off at the nearest library or bookshop while I make some travel arrangements."

He did have a point. I still wasn't that comfortable around humans yet. I could talk to them and was over the wanting to kill them stage, but really didn't feel right in their company. Felix was right. Right now we were on a busy street teeming with humans rushing in and out shops. Felix pointed out a shop on the corner.

"Isabella, that over there is a bookshop full of books, you can read books in there, but the staff probably won't like you if you don't buy anything. I will leave you there to browse and read and when I come to pick you up I will buy any books you like. How does that sound?"

"I think that sounds wonderful. You know how much I love books."

I skipped off happily towards the bookstore and left Felix standing in the street with a rather strange smile on his face. I didn't really stop and think about the arrangements first; I was too happy with the thought of seeing some new books. I had exhausted the library of the Volturi and book reading wasn't that popular with the members as they preferred to kill people rather than educate themselves.


	8. Old faces and new plans

Walk in the Woods: Chapter 8

**Bella's POV**

There were people everywhere. More than I had been exposed to. A lot more. The feeling was over powering and my head was aching. I had just stepped into the crowded bookshop and found myself caught up in a crowd of milling people trying to find their favourite sections. Someone a lot shorter than me squeezed past me, muttering an apology. They smelt mouth-watering and even though I had just drunk some blood I found myself thirsting for some fresh, warm blood. It took all my willpower not to catch hold of heir wrist and bite down on it. I told myself that if I did I would ruin everything that vampires had built up for centuries to allow themselves to live in secret among and hidden from humans. That though was scary enough along with the eventual consequences.

I concentrated my mind on the other scents in the air besides to calm me. The heavy perfume wafting from an elderly lady squashed next to me. The smell of the leather jacket belonging to the man in front. The rich tang of coffee from the coffee shop at the back of the store. A group of teenager pushed their way through and passed me in their rush to get to the teenage section and bury their heads in modern, shallow writing. I preferred older, better written literature.

I saw a gap in the crowd and took the opportunity to break from them and veered off to the left and found myself in the comparatively quieter classics section. The only other person was an elderly man with glasses sitting in the plush chair in the corner by the window. My eyes were flickering all over the place in an effort to try and take in all the well known names that were gracing the books' spines. Austen. Dickens. Brontë. Tolstoy. I didn't know where to start. I reached out my arm to take one out at random and then recoiled and drew it back. To my left there was a blonde haired young man staring at me intently and to my right there was a window that they afternoon sunshine was flowing through. I couldn't reach out fully without my skin sparkling and to make things worse there was a human observing my actions. I had no idea what to do.

I backed away.

"Sorry, I'm in your way," I mumbled in the guy's direction and turned to leave.

The man clamped his hand down on my wrist to stop me from leaving. I turned around to face him and got a better look at him. His hair was pale shade on blond and was spiked and his face was round in a babyish way. He also had very white teeth and a nice smile.

"I'm sorry for giving you that impression," he smiled and his eyes matched his happy expression. "I was staring at you because you resemble a girl I used to know and like." His eyes saddened momentarily.

"Oh really? What happened to her?"

His eyes were distant. "She was going to get married and before the wedding she… she just disappeared."

"I'm sorry," I replied feeling sorry for him yet not having experienced the event. Everything was still new and novel to me and unless I got my memory back it was probably going to remain that way; I didn't mind though.

With my condolence spoken I turned to go and spotted a book on a display that interested me. The man stepped in front of me and blocked my path.

"Yes?" I said slightly irked now. Why wouldn't he leave me alone? I had spoken to him and that should have been enough. I had very limited social knowledge so maybe I should have interacted with him a little more.

"W-Would you like to get a coffee with me?" he stuttered. "There is one at the back of this store." He pointed in its direction.

Human food. Yuck. And I had just eaten. I thought about refusing for a moment and then realised that he was never going to leave me alone if I didn't. Besides it would teach me some things about humans that I didn't know. All I would need to do was actually avoid drinking. Easy. Maybe…

"Yes thank you," I accepted the invitation and remembered that manners that I had learnt by reading books and used ones that I judged wouldn't sound too strange to him; I spent too much of my time reading old fashioned books. "Thank you. May I enquire, what is your name?"

He blinked. Maybe I had been a little too polite by modern standards. Never the less he should have understood what I meant.

"Oh. It's Mike. Mike Newton."

"Nice to meet you Mike," I greeted wondering whether to shake hands which was what Aro did- normally to read a person's mind which may have had nothing to do with actual manners.

"You too," he replied and lead the way through the bookshelves and people to the back of the store. Once we were in the packed seating area he turned to me.

"I'll order while you go find a table to sit at. What would you like?" he asked pointing to the menu above the counter which I could hardly see for the steam.

"Uh-coffee?"

What else would you drink in a coffee shop?

Mike twitched slightly and itched the back of his neck awkwardly. From his actions I guessed that he was having second thoughts about this arrangement. It was that or something to do with me and my lack of experience in dealing with humans.

"Tell you what, I'll order for both of us to make things easier."

He joined the end of the queue that spanned across an entire wall and was full of everyone from men in black suits with briefcases that were playing with something in their hands, tired looking mothers with children that were playing around and misbehaving to old ladies with their knitting that were twittering to the people standing next to them. How weird. All different types of humans can meet up in one place and even mix with each other. That couldn't really happen in the vampire world; we were too violent and bloodthirsty for that. Take the Volturi's attitude to the vegetarians for instance, they couldn't stand them and even tried to have them killed. Shaking my head, I collected myself, surveyed my surroundings and tried to find somewhere to sit. There weren't really any obvious answers. The seating area was packed and buzzing with conversation. I had a momentary eavesdrop on the group of young women sitting around a coffee table on sofas, I quickly tuned out though; they were slagging other people off and one was accusing another one of them of sleeping with her husband. Another difference from the vampire world. Mates were for life. You didn't cheat on each other and once you lost each one, you could never get another one. After a few minutes of walking aimlessly round looking for a place to sit I located a coffee table full of dirty dishes and a leather sofa with a newspaper thrown unceremoniously across it. Frowning I pushed the dirty cups to one end and picked up the newspaper to scan the articles for anything in the human news that was interesting to a vampire. Sometimes Felix bought us human newspapers in Italy for a joke to laugh at the headlines and Aro got them to check for suspicions that the humans had of vampires. Either way they were a good way of keeping informed about the human world. I never really had an interest in them though.

I leaned to the side to see around a mirrored pillar to check Mike's progress in the mine and was slightly aggrieved to see that he had only moved a few places up. It looked like I had a long wait ahead of me. I sat back, picked up the newspaper and wondered that Felix was doing at the moment.

**Edward's POV**

Contained in my backpack was a photo album that had always been treasured by me. It contained pictures of Bella and my family. There were pictures from the prom, her unfortunate 18th birthday, ones from happier times and ones in preparation from the wedding. They wouldn't bring Bella's memory back alone, but it should be enough to convince her that she was happier when she was living as a human living with her friends and family. I would have liked to have used Charlie, unfortunately he had never been quite the same since Bella disappeared; I didn't blame him either. I was a changed vampire and it had changed my family forever.

It was worse than when I thought she was dead. To know she was in the hands of a bloodthirsty, angry vampire that could control her… It didn't bear thinking about. Yuki's plan had better work otherwise this time around I was going to find a way of killing myself and it was going to work. It had to.


	9. Truth?

Walk in the woods: Chapter 9

**Bella's POV**

I stared at it nervously like a mother waiting for its child to walk safely across a road. Who knew a cup of coffee could be so terrifying? I smiled awkwardly at Mike, lifted it cup carefully and took a tiny sip and immediately wished I hadn't. Coffee tasted disgusting and repulsive like anything human; this was going to be coming back up later. I swallowed my grimace and the mouthful of coffee. Looking up I met Mike's eyes and found that he was staring at me wonderingly again.

I raised one eyebrow, "Yes?"

He blushed and looked away hastily. "I'm very sorry, you look so much like her. Like Bella..."

My coffe cup slipped out of my hands and landed on the table, spilling the contents. To hide my shock I wiped up the coffee with a couple of napkins and righted the upturned coffee cup. I should have known; he said that the girl disappeared before her wedding. I really should have guessed.

But I didn't and I was now in a rather sticky situation.

All I could say was, "Thats a pretty name."

His eyes were distant. "She was a pretty girl."

What had I looked like when I was human? What had my wedding dress looked like? What were my hobbies? How did I feel about Edward? These were just a few of the questions that I wanted answers to. I wanted my memories back badly. The only rouble was that to get them back I would have to find Yuki and she was probably in the hands of the Cullens which I wanted to stay away from.

"What was she like?" I inquired innocently. I might get answers to some of my questions without regaing my memory.

"She was quiet and kept to herself. When I first met her she was the new girl and we immediately hit it off. I and several other boys asked her to a dance and she refused all of us saying that she was going to Seattle." His eyes darkened for a second and then his expression went back to normal, I wasn't sure if I had imagined it or not. "After that day she started going out with Edward Cullen and was never quite the same again. They went to the prom together and she had her leg in a cast."

This sounded interesting. "How did she break her leg?"

"Who knows?" He shrugged. "She was always very clumsy and could never walk across a flat surface without tripping up. She also fainted during a Biology lesson when we were drawing blood."

I laughed. "She sounds entertaining to know."

Mike nodded. "She was until she started going out with Edward, after she became quieter and more withdrawn, it was like he was controlling her. And then when he left..." He shook his head.

Edward had left me?

"He left?"

"Yes, he and his family left town out of the blue. Bella became really depressed like she was hollow inside and there was something missing. She became a little better after she started hanging around with this Quileute tribe boy called Jacob, I never liked him though."

"Did she go out with him."

"No," he replied. "I could tell he liked her though. She never saw him as anything more than a friends which I could tell annoyed him. They might have ended up going out if Edward hadn't returned."

"He returned. Why?" This was getting stranger by the second.

"I honestly don't know what happened. All I know is that everything went back to how is was apart from Jacob Black kept turning up everywhere and Edward would always give him evils. Soon after graduation Bella and Edward announced that they were getting married. Getting married at 18? I don't see how Bella agreed to that one. I really don't. I was invited to the wedding. And then... Bella disappeared."

I leaned closer to him eagerly. "Where there any clues as to what happened?"

Mike blinked at my sudden closeness. "Uh-no. No one knows what happened. She just took a walk in the woods and disappeared."

"What do you think happened?" I asked before realising how nosy I was being. "I'm sorry for asking so many questions."

"It's fine. In my opinion she got cold feet and ran away so she wouldn't have to get married."

Mike looked down at his watch and noticed the time at the same time I became aware that somebody was standing very close by. I half turned and saw Felix leaning by a pillar, his eyes intently focused on me. How long had he been there for? Whatever the answer I was going to have to wrap up this conversation quickly, otherwise Felix would be even annoyed with me than he already was.

"Uh- I think it is getting a little late now," I said at the same time that Mike said exactly the same thing.

We laughed and both stood up.

"Bye," I said turning to go.

"It was nice to meet you...what is your name?"

"Isabelle." Was that too suspiciously close to Bella?

"Good bye Isabelle." He picked up his coat and strode off, presumably late for something. I was glad that I had met him because I had learnt a lot from him and the fact that I had felt no urge to kill him meant that I was able to survive in the human world after all. All I had to do now was face Felix. Scary.

I took a deep breath and walked past him and held my hand out. He took it after meeting my eyes. I could see that he was annoyed with my behaviour.

"I'm sorry Felix," I apologised as we passed through the store without pausing. "He wouldn't leave me alone and he knew Bella Swan."

Felix frowned. "Next time something like that happens, threaten pr scare the human, they usually leave you alone after that. Take it from me." He smiled showing his teeth.

I hastily changed the subject; I hated people trying to make me hurt humans. "Did you make arrangements for travel?"

"Yes," he patted the left pocket of his jeans.

"May I ask where we are going?"

He patted me on the head condescendingly. "It's a surprise Isabelle."

"Bella," I corrected.

Felix paused and I realised what I had just said. I hadn't noticed that I had done so it had been an automatic reaction. I must have done it a lot as a human, before I had lost my memories. Maybe I was slowly becoming more like the person I had been. I hoped I was, but at the same time I didn't want to the human whose life had been dominated by a stronger vampire.


	10. Memories

Walk in the woods: Chapter 10

**Bella's POV**

I had explained away my action of correcting him as being automatic, but it had me worried. I wanted my memories back so I could be a proper person. On the other hand I didn't want to become obsessed with Edward; it sounded like I had been. I didn't know what I wanted or what I was going to do. I wished I could sleep like a human then I would be able to escape this nightmare temporarily for a few hours.

Felix and I were standing in the middle of an airport terminal. We were sandwiched in by queues of people all trying to go to different places. Felix still hadn't divulged our top secret location yet and was being annoyingly close mouthed about it. He wouldn't even give me a clue. Felix was also quite jumpy and annoyed, like he was waiting for someone to sneak up on him.

"Is something wrong Felix?" I asked, concerned about our safety.

"It's nothing, everything is fine," He replied contradicting what he had just said by looking around nervously.

"I believe you," I muttered under my breath.

So many people had lied to me and now I didn't know whether to believe what a person was saying anymore. The Volturi were the biggest liars of the lot and I was getting second feelings about Felix. Maybe I should have stayed with the Cullens; at least they looked like good people and they didn't kill humans.

Edward's POV

Felix had just turned around and given me a piercing look. I pulled the hat that I was earng further over my face and wished that I didn't stand out so much. It didn't matter really; he would have smelt our scent eventually. The only trouble with him getting an advance warning was that he could tell Bella not to listen to us, but he couldn't do much because of all the people. I was about to move a little closer when Bella asked if there was anything wrong with him proving that she was getting suspicious. Now things might be going our way a little. Either way it was time for me to move. I ducked my head and pushed through a line of people heading to Madrid in the direction of Bella and Felix.

At the same time Bella told Felix that she was going to go to the toilets to get away from all the humans before she got tempted to do anything. Excellent. Another point in our favour. Felix told her not to, but she ignored him and stomped off. I hastily followed and couldn't believe my own luck. We could do it after all. I pulled out my phone and texted someone that would hopefully implement the next part of the plan without fail.

**Bella's POV**

Felix was hiding something. It was obvious; you had to be stupid to miss it. Ironically I was as I had missed the signs for quite a while. I had been wondering how to get away from him when I thought I saw Edward Cullen in the reflection of the floor-to-ceiling window that spanned the entire length of the terminal. That meant that the Cullens were here to help get me away Felix. They couldn't have come at a better time. I needed to get away from him. I had been an idiot to go off with him in the first place. He was a slimy creep and I should have seen it before, but I didn't because I was naive and gullible. I really needed my memories back; anything was better than having the mentality of a five year old and at the mercy of any semi-experienced manipulator.

I took a deep breath and turned to Felix, hiding any feeling I had of hate from him.

"I'm sorry Felix, I really can't handle this many humans in a public place without going crazy. I need to go to someplace quieter to calm down. I'll only be a few minutes. Bye."

I spun on my heel and headed off in the direction of the toilets ignoring Felix's protests. In the reflection of the window I saw Edward Cullen follow whilst texting on his phone. Was that a good sign?

I made my way, pushing past many people of different gender, age and ethnicity to find the ladies' toilets. I pushed the door and found myself in a long room with harassed mothers with screaming children and female business woman tapping on their blackberries. I locked myself in a cubicle and gave a long sigh.

Suddenly I heard a whoosh of air behind me and I spun round to see Yuki standing behind me calmly.

"Yuki," I whispered even though that was unnecessary with cacophony going on in the toilets.

She nodded. "Come on Bella. We have to go soon before Felix follows you in here."

Yuki pulled me by the arm and we exited the cubicle unnoticed. I had no idea how Yuki found me unseen by everyone. She wasn't exactly conspicuous with her bright red eyes and black attire on a scorching hot day. I looked around for a possible escape route. All I saw were a row of sinks and mirrors and couple of hand dryers.

"The window," Yuki said answering my question. "Someone saw me on the way in, but I wiped their memory without too much fuss." She smiled at her joke. I felt a little sorry for whoever saw her.

We moved down to the end of the room and i balked when I saw the size of the window. From being friends with her when I was with the Volturi I had known that she was small and very agile. The window was a narrow rectangle that I would never be able to fit through. She must have gone through it like a snake. There was no way I was going to be able to get through.

Something vibrated in Yuki's pocket. Yuki blinked and drew out a mobile phone. She read something on the screen and a flustered expression appeared on her face. She mouthed an Italian swearword that I understood and turned to me.

"Change of plan. Edward has just informed me that Felix is on the other side of the door and is about to call the Volturi to ask for back up. Damn. Just as we had a bit of luck for a change."

"What can we do?"

"There's nothing us two can do..." Yuki stopped and stared at me with a new look on her face. "I have an idea that might just work."

"Well, go do it then."

"I was supposed to wait until we had escaped and were all together again to return your memories so Edward could apologise more romantically, but we might not have that chance so I will have to do it now. Are you ready Bella?"

Have my memories back? I could be Bella Swan again. Did I want that? Anything was better than being the ignorant vampire with little knowledge of anything that I was at the moment. I could deal with Edward Cullen when I remembered him. I was ready. I had to be.

"Yes."

* * *

**There should be only one chapter left. It depends...**


	11. End of the fight

Walk in the woods: Chapter 11

**Edward's POV **

If I were a human I would right now be hyperventilating or having a panic attack. Being a vampire I was pretty stressed. Right now Felix had his hand on the door handle and was seconds away from turning it. Naturally I was strong enough to stop him, but naturally it would scare people and start a panic which wasn't what either of us wanted or needed. All I had to rely on was Yuki and I still didn't completely trust her. What happened next and Bella's future lay in her hands.

The toilet door opened and Bella and Yuki walked out. Bella levelled Felix with a glare and said something to him that I had trouble making out due to all the noise and masses of thoughts of all the people around me. Whatever she said must have been a surprise to him as for a second he didn't look so sure of himself like he usually did. Bella motioned for Felix to follow her with her finger. I looked around for Yuki and found that she had appeared next to me.

"She knows what she is doing, don't worry," she reassured me as I had been about to ask her what was going on. "I restored her memory by the way."

"You did?"

"Yes, it was quite unpleasant for both us going back through some of her old memories. A lot of them were pleasant ones though. I didn't know that you could be so romantic Edward," she smirked expecting me to rise to the bait.

However I wasn't listening I was too busy watching Bella confidently lead Felix out of the terminal to the outside world with fewer witnesses where anything could happen. I watched them for a few seconds, and then I snapped into action. Now that I knew that she knew who she was I had slightly less concerns about her safety, but the worries were still there. I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Emmett asking where he was and one to Alice to ask what was going to happen next. Within seconds there were replies from both. Emmett was in the car park and hadn't seen them whereas Alice knew where they were and was going over there now. I noted that she hadn't said what was going to happen. Whatever it was I couldn't be good if she was keeping it from me.

**Bella's POV**

I really should have never gone for a walk in the woods. It had been a really bad idea that had had some really horrible consequences and I wasn't looking forward to clearing them up. Even if we got rid of Felix we still had the Volturi to deal with and they were dangerous opponents. I should have never have even be born; if I didn't exist the Cullens would have had an easier life free of worry from the Volturi and tracker vampires like James. If I ever lived to see them again I would sincerely apologise to them. However right now I had Felix to deal with.

He smiled at me showing his sharp teeth. "I see that you have your memory back Bella."

I grinned back as widely. "Yes and I would like a word with you."

He raised an eyebrow, "I thought you wanted to fight me instead. You looked like you were going to."

I shrugged my shoulders, "Maybe later."

He relaxed slightly and as he did so I threw myself at him and shoved him under the cover of some nearby trees. In a flash I pinned him up against a tree and drove a stake through him to keep him there for a few precious seconds. I had picked up the stake which was actually the sharp end of a snapped of wooden fence pole, surreptitiously on the way out and Yuki had given me some advice on how to tackle him and I had been looking forward to using it. I was about to rip off his head and leave it at his feet while I lit a fire when someone shoved me out the way and sent me flying. It was Edward.

Like a cat I landed on my feet and was instantly back in a second. Edward dug in the pocket of his grey coat without taking his eyes off Felix who was pulling the stake out and threw a metal lighter at me. I got what he wanted me to do, but I was miffed that he still thought I was incapable of defending myself. I wasn't a weak human anymore. I didn't need to be protected. He didn't have to everything for me.

Felix pulled out the stake, wincing as he did so. "Damn. I think you must have watched too much Buffy, Bella. It's not going to work."

I ignored him and set to work on making a fire. If Edward didn't want my help in fighting he could do it himself. I decided just to watch for now just to remind myself that I didn't need to worry about him anymore than he needed to worry about me. He was doing pretty well to. By the time I had gotten the fire lit which was made out of branches and dry leaves Felix's right arm was hanging loosely at his side and he was slowing down as Edward was dodging his blows gracefully and easily.

Unfortunately I spoke too soon. Felix outmanoeuvred Edward and knocked him to the ground and landed on top of him. He bent down and had his teeth at Edward's neck and was about to rip his throat when I sent him flying with a well aimed kick. The time for watching was over. Edward needed my help. I knelt down to see if Edward was all right and ready to fight.

"Edward. Edward, are you okay?

He wasn't answering me. His topaz eyes were fixed on my blood red ones and he didn't seem to be seeing me. In fact he was looking above me more...

I looked up just in time to see Felix leap down from the tree and land right next to me perfectly on the balls of his feet. We were right back to where we had started. It would go on forever if things carried on the way they were and right now I just wanted to spend the rest of my life without having to run from anyone. Was that too much to ask for?

Edward coughed and sat up. "Bella, please go. I don't want you to see me like this."

"I'm staying whether you like it or not. I have learnt to fight. You don't have to keep protecting me anymore. In fact I'm asking you not to."

I pushed him back down and stood up to face Felix. We circled each other not taking our eyes of one another. The ironic thing was that Felix had been the one to teach me the few fighting moves that I knew and he also knew a lot more. I stepped forward to distract him and a second afterwards moved to the side so that his blow missed me. He straightened up and smiled.

"Lets fight for real now, Bella," he said as if he was bored of the preliminaries.

I nodded. "Allright then."

I threw myself at him and tried to tear out his throat with my teeth but I missed by millimetres giving him the chance to grab me by the leg and throw me across the grass. He was a harder opponent than I expected. Another thing that I hadn't expected was a black haired pixie to whoosh past me at speed and block my view of Felix.

"Hi Alice," I greeted as if this was normal. "As you can see I was kind of in the middle of something important..."

"No offence Bella, but you still can't fight. Leave it up to me, Jasper and Emmett," she smiled showing her dimples. Her gaze fell on her brother. "Edward, take Bella away from here and clean yourself up."

I allowed Edward to drag me away from the action and the fire to a bench in the car park. I laid my head on his stone chest that no longer felt like stone to me and wondered if I would have been able to live without him for so long if I still had my memories of him. I think that answer would have been no. I never wanted to be separated from him for so long ever again like we had been. A question presented itself in my mind. One that I had always known the answer to, but now I wasn't so sure.

"Edward, do you still love me?"

I felt his chest shake beneath me and I knew he was laughing.

Edward stopped and sighed. "Bella that is a stupid question. Of course I love you; I would still fall in love with you again even if I forgot you, which hopefully never will happen. Yuki is now on our side. I think..."

"What happened to Alec?"

He is on his way back to Italy. We can't deprive the Volturi of all their star members, as much as we would like to. Yuki is staying here. She seems to quite like us for some reason."

"What are they going to do about us now that we have killed Felix?" I asked listening carefully for any signs of the fight. All the noise in the trees had faded now and the only noise was the sound of the fire crackling as something inhuman was burnt in it. Edward know that I was talking about the Volturi

"We have known that the Volturi always has more than one agenda and a backup plan. Carlisle suspects that Aro wanted to get rid of Felix for some reason and ser up this entire thing in an attempt to destroy us and if that failed; get rid of Felix."

"Aro is very... devious," I searched for the right word, not sure there was a word that described his personality.

"Yes," Edward agreed with me. "Alice is coming."

I looked up to see my almost sister-in-law running towards us, glittering in the sun. I looked around for humans and luckily there wasn't anyone around to see.

"Bella," she said excitedly and threw her arms around me which was hard because I was still lying against Edward's chest. "You and Edward can be together again. Right Edward?"

He nodded and smiled showing his happiness. I, on the other hand still needed some time to think about things. However Alice didn't pick up on my mood.

"You can even get married now."

I stiffened at her words and wished I hadn't for it would hurt both their feelings which I didn't want to do.

"I take it you have changed your mind then," Alice noted my reactions with an expressionless face. I braced myself, then she smiled unexpectedly and looked a lot more like her old self. "You were pushed into it in the first place; I can probably do it again." She screwed up her eyes and concentrated. "Give it five months at the very least."

**Six months later**

As usual Alice was right. I got married to Edward at a big wedding arranged by her in Forks a week ago. The only thing low key about the wedding had been the guest list. Tanya's coven from Alaska had been invited and a few of Carlisle's old friends and that had been it. I still didn't quite that it had been so simple to do. All I had had to do was to say "I do" at the altar and kiss Edward.

I had spent the six months after we had killed Felix worrying about the Volturi's reaction and spending time with the Cullens. Edward had been right about Aro. He had sent a reply to my apologetic letter saying that he had replaced Felix with someone more reliable and he was apparently glad that Edward hadn't been killed after all. I wasn't so sure he was telling the truth about the latter, but as long as he stayed away it was fine.

Edward had proposed to me in the meadow. It had been one of the best moments of my life. I had gotten over my fear of being married again and I now find that married life has its perks... However if I could turn back time I would have never gone for that walk in the woods. I never wanted to forget or lose Edward again.

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**It has taken a long time and now this fan fiction has finally finished. I would have left it, but I felt guilty about it. I am not entirely happy with the ending. However I shall leave it as I really need to concentrate on all my schoolwork. Thank you to all those reviewers that have supported this story.**


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